I’m very excited to announce the final two releases from Low Point in 2010! These two records bring in the new approach Low Point will be taking from this point forward with a predominantly vinyl only catalogue. I hope you all approve.

LP038 – Dag Rosenqvist and Simon Scott – 'Conformists' LP

‘Conformists’ is a soundtrack album to the short film of the same name composed by Dag Rosenqvist (aka Jasper TX) and Simon Scott.

The origin of the album occurred when Dag was approached by filmmaker Juriaan Booij to provide music for a film he was planning to shoot. Before a single frame was committed to celluloid, the overview provided to Dag was to score a film about how group mentality rules us as humans.

Equipped with only this simple brief, access to a handful of storyboard images and stills from the film set, Dag decided to ask friend and colleague Simon to collaborate on the project. Through the long-distance exchange of files, ideas and half-finished tracks, ten pieces were completed for the film score.

The resulting soundtrack is music rich in subtlety and nuance. Matching the overarching themes of the film, an undercurrent of menace is present throughout, evoking the feeling of half-forgotten memories and imagery drained of its colour.

It should be noted that one of the strengths of ‘Conformists’ is that unlike many film scores, the album also works as an entity in its own right. It was uncertain for a time that the film was going to be completed. As a result of the artists’ creative juices flowing thick and fast, the album was completed as a collaboration based on a film they imagined would be made...

Ltd edition white vinyl LP pressed by Record Industry in the Netherlands. On sale for £10 plus postage to your part of the world. To listen to sound samples and to purchase a copy, please head to http://www.low-point.com/LP038.html. Please note that this is a pre-order item and will ship as close to the release date of 29th November as possible. Test pressings have been approved.

PLEASE NOTE: More than half the copies of this release have already been allocated, so please pre-order soon to avoid disappointment!

LP039 – Ex-Easter Island Head – 'Mallet Guitars One' single-sided LP

‘Mallet Guitars One’ is the debut release by Ex-Easter Island Head; a Liverpool based ensemble comprising on this record of three solid bodied electric guitars and two performers.

The record is three movements of shimmering drones, ghostly overtones and sustained consonances elicited through gradually changing rhythmic patterns played on the body of horizontally mounted guitars with percussion mallets. Utilising repetition, resonance and amplification, the music of Ex-Easter Island Head is poised between minimalist austerity and sonic density.

Recorded live in the cavernous roof space of a listed neo-classical church, the minutiae of three fixed chords are magnified by the resonant architecture of the building. Forming an ever changing surface over an unmoving centre, overtones are amplified and different timbres generated by changing percussive patterns, creating a soundscape that is immersive and organic.

Ltd edition hand stamped and numbered single-sided vinyl LP pressed by Record Industry in the Netherlands. On sale for £5.50 plus postage to your part of the world. To listen to sound samples and to purchase a copy, please head to http://www.low-point.com/LP039.html. Please note that this is a pre-order item and will ship as close to the release date of 29th November as possible. Test pressings have been approved.

There have been some important changes at Low Point. The most significant is that Low Point releases will now be sold via the awesome Bandcamp website. As well as being able to preview the Low Point catalogue in its entirety via streaming audio, check out photos of the artwork and see other info, anyone who purchases cd or vinyl through the site will also have the option to instantly download the release in the format of their choosing. Nifty eh? For those of you who don't have a record player, there is also the option to buy digital versions of any release for a lower price.

To celebrate this and the New Year, for 5 days only (until midnight of Sunday 9th January) we're offering a 15% discount on ANY transaction (whether it's a physical release or download, multiple purchases, etc) via the Low Point Bandcamp store. Simply go shopping and when checking out, enter the discount code;

Welcome to the first Low Point mail out of 2011! This is going to be the first vinyl-only year for Low Point, so onwards and upwards. Anyone who places a pre-order will also be able to download a digital version of the release immediately upon checkout.

LP040 – Tim Catlin & Machinefabriek – 'Patina' LPFollowing on from their debut release, ‘Glisten’ released by Low Point in 2009, ‘Patina’ is the second collaborative album by Tim Catlin, a guitarist and sound artist based in Melbourne, Australia and Machinefabriek, the nom de plume of Rutger Zuydervelt from Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

For the creation of ‘Patina’, Catlin and Zuydervelt adhered to the tried and tested method of working successfully employed on their previous collaboration. Catlin made initial recordings drawing upon a wide range of approaches, preparations and techniques for guitar and electric sitar that were then sent to Zuydervelt for the addition of extra sounds, overdubs and sequencing.

With both artists’ sharing a passion for developing upon the minutiae of the guitar, ‘Patina’ is an immersive album of unfurling layers of sound, acute harmonic gestures and deeply embedded drones. Throughout the course of these two long-form tracks, one can sense that the working relationship between these two artists has hit its stride. With a broader sound palette, including the introduction of field recordings and rhythmic elements being utilised to great effect, 'Patina' is an album of both gentle nuance and compelling intensity.

Ltd edition white vinyl LP, pressed by Record Industry in the Netherlands for optimum sound quality. On sale for £11 plus shipping to your part of the world. To listen to sound samples and to pre-order a copy, please head to http://www.low-point.com/LP040.html. Please note that this is a pre-order item and will ship on or around the 28th February 2011. Test pressings have been approved.

LP041 – Gareth Hardwick - 'Sunday Afternoon' LPOriginally released by Blackest Rainbow in a cd-r edition of 75 copies, this vinyl version of 'Sunday Afternoon' has been remastered and reissued for your appraisal.

The album, recorded in a single improvised take during the aforementioned time of day, formed the first of an ongoing series of audio studies. Employing a lap steel guitar as the only sound source, Hardwick then deliberately limited the equipment and additional processing used to the minimum in order to extract the purest tone from the instrument.

The resulting album is a placid dissolution of the lap steel into a natural blossoming harmonic. Whilst rooted in one major chord, the recording simultaneously reveals hidden timbres and overtones, its unhurried pace allowing the instrument to breathe and unveil new characteristics.

Having been remastered specifically for the vinyl format, additional clarity has been revealed within the recording, allowing the listener to submerge further within.

Ltd edition vinyl LP, pressed by Record Industry in the Netherlands for optimum sound quality. On sale for £11 plus shipping to your part of the world. To listen to sound samples and to pre-order a copy, please head to . http://www.low-point.com/LP041.html Please note that this is a pre-order item and will ship on or around the 28th February 2011. Test pressings have been approved.

Seconds;These releases have slight damage/blemishes to the packaging so are on sale at reduced prices. Specific details outlined below;

LP040 - Tim Catlin & Machinefabriek - Patina LPI have a number of copies of this release where the sleeves aren't perfect. It's mainly slight damage to the spine of the sleeve where they have taken a knock in transit and the card has compacted or the sleeve has a minor blemish to the finish. Nothing major, but it'd be unfair to sell these at full price. Therefore, they are on sale for £5.50 plus shipping to your part of the world. The vinyl itself is in mint condition and unplayed.

LP038 - Dag Rosenqvist & Simon Scott - Conformists LPI have a number of copies of this release which do not have the outer sleeve, so it's the record only (vinyl is in mint condition and unplayed) packaged in a white paper inner sleeve. On sale for the price of £2.50 plus shipping.

LP023 - Mariska Baars, Robert Deters, Rutger Zuydervelt - Gris Gris cdA number of the sleeves for this release have slight printing/handling marks (mainly small spots of glue on the sleeve). On sale for £1 plus shipping.

"Time moves differently with Chubby Wolf’s latest work of fluid sound art….more than a single, you're embraced and carried, pulled gently in one direction, urgently in another. You feel Dani had woven a tapestry of emotional choreography just for you. As with all her work, there is a sense of a personal touch…a slight weight of a hand on the shoulder, your skin gone electric where her sound has lifted you.

We sadly do not know what Dani’s exact intentions were with this music. Our only direct hint the title, 'The Darker Sex'. Even that, like a game of playfulness or frustration with a lover…which is the darker sex? But don’t you know? All of her work was a labor of love and gift to the world, and I believe we were meant to feel more then define. For here purgatory is not flat, it is pregnant and undulating with expectation and anticipation…and above all else, an effervescent timeless beauty. We will want to stay a while." - Maile Colbert, March 2011

Featuring artwork by Jennifer Chen. Mastered by Corey Fuller.

Ltd edition vinyl 7" single, packaged in a full colour matt printed sleeve. Strictly one-off pressing of 250 copies. On sale for £4.45 plus shipping to your part of the world. To listen to sound samples and to order a copy, please head to http://www.low-point.com/LP042.html

Following on from two very limited 7-inch singles released in 2010, Low Point is proud to present the debut album from the Nottingham group Kogumaza.

Recorded at the band’s own Way-Out Is The Way Out studio, Kogumaza’s self-titled LP is two side-long cut-and-paste pieces of purposefully dense, bizarre and heavy music.

Beautiful percussion patterns support cyclic riffs of thick, shimmering fuzz as primitive melodies and harmonies are layered on top of each other. Hypnotic loops emerge from the murk and reveal themselves, spiralling into your brain to remain lodged there, sound-tracking your most mundane actions with a peaceful pulse forever more.

By using just two electric guitars tuned in unison and a stripped down drum kit, Kogumaza make music designed to create the space and potential for personal epiphanies (big and small) on the part of the listener. In this way, they are closer to the reflective qualities of rhythm-less ambient music than they are to the bluster of rock or metal and their infinite sub-genres.

Kogumaza’s desire to manipulate and mask their output both live, (courtesy of fourth member Mark Spivey who operates from behind the sound desk) and on record brings a dub-like sensibility and sensuousness to the band’s sound, maximising the potential for third-mind lift-off at all times.

Your own participation in this is enthusiastically encouraged.

Limited edition clear vinyl LP, pressed by Record Industry in the Netherlands for optimum sound quality and packaged in a full colour matt printed sleeve. On sale for £11 plus shipping to your part of the world. To listen to sound samples and to purchase a copy, please head to http://www.low-point.com/LP043.html

Norman Records - "Here's something to get all giddy about. After releasing a couple of fantastic 7"s (one on Low Point, the other on Lancashire And Somerset) Kogumaza go big with their debut LP. Hailing from Nottingham and featuring members of groups such as Bob Tilton, Lords, Felix, Little Girl With Cherries and the offensively underrated Wolves (Of Greece), Kogumaza are a titanic beast of three piece (four if you include secret weapon/sound-man Mark Spivey) that forge an almighty psychedelic sludge from just two guitars and cleverly effected drums. Live they are one of the loudest and most engaging groups currently trailing the country in search of a listener. Echoes of cyclical percussion and dense layers of pummeling riffage have the ability to send the listener into a highly effective lull with heads and bodies swaying slowly and hypnotically to their primitive ethereal rhythms. On record Kogumaza spread their legs, take time to relax and experiment with the possibilities. Their self titled debut features a number of tracks I've heard performed before sewn together with a patch work of experimental, electronic and Avant-garde studio experiments. All add texture and atmosphere to the finished product whilst providing the group with the chance to try things that aren't physically possible in the live arena. The additional of bubbling synth experiments on opener Cosmonaut are particularly enjoyable. A very effective experiment in merging the dense and unforgiving riffs of rock with the peaceful tranquility of ambient music. Think Bardo Pond, Earth (both old and new), Neil Young and Neu! all rolled up into one. Thanks Low Point. Best release so far."

Boomkat - "A sludge metal band from Nottingham, Kogumaza might not seem like the most obvious addition to the Low Point stable, but on closer listening it all begins to make perfect sense. While their regular setup seems pretty ‘regular’ (drums, bass, guitar), the band have a secret weapon in fourth member Mark Spivey, who operating behind the mixing desk throws the band’s sound into realms closer to dub than you’d usually expect to hear on a metal record. I’m talking sleazy, degraded delays, haunted echoes and the kind of top cropping that makes this self titled debut the kind of antithesis of the black metal revival. Where the BM set are fascinated with the high end (to the detriment of the poor old lows), Kogumaza have eliminated treble for good, just concentrating on smoky, muddy mids and basses giving their sound a strange focus and real originality. It’s almost not metal at all, and certainly Kogumaza don’t sound much like Sunn O))) – rather they’ve heard a lot of Pink Floyd, they’re up to date on Sleep and classic Earth and they’ve made something that makes perfect sense. Heavy, yet somehow ambient? Don’t take my word for it."

I hope you are well. It's been over five months since the last release on Low Point, so today not one, but two new LPs are available to purchase! These are shipping from today, a week before the shops get them.

“First impressions pull closer, strings and fizzles fall, carrying you, reaching further and ending up in an all-new place. Time is simple and less than a moment, with the lasting habit of a worn-out keepsake but nonetheless you are still immediately there again, inside those open arms and a world you have always dreamed of.

In homage to minimalism and imagination, 'The Places That Find You' by Ben Fleury-Steiner embodies an ultimate trance, the ability to connect directly with the listener and the truth behind the feeling of music from the heart. Far away but incredibly close, the five tracks forming this album never return to the ordinary but move, invert and grow, through time-lapse expressions and faded visions.

Some listeners want to be transported to other places through music, whilst others hear the technical artistry and find inspiration to delve deeper into the creative process. Without any direction and by simply following your own natural instincts, 'The Places That Find You' is a guide that places you instantly, allowing each listener to find more, not only through the music but from inside themselves.” Will Long, September 2011

Ben Fleury-Steiner is a Delaware-based composer, published author and owner of the Gears Of Sand label. Drawing upon his deep love of minimalism and influenced by the work of Mirror, Jonathan Coleclough and Tim Hecker, 'The Places That Find You ' was recorded over a two year period between 2009 to 2011.

The recording process made use of a mixture of instrumentation, including the use of the kalimba (the traditional name for a thumb piano) and the various sounds produced when played in the manner of a prepared guitar, coupled with more modern electronic instruments including effects pedals and synths.

Limited edition white vinyl LP, packaged in a full colour matt printed sleeve. On sale for £11 plus shipping to your part of the world. Limited edition of 300 copies. To listen to sound samples and to purchase a copy, please head to http://www.low-point.com/LP044.html

“Artists sharing a split record are akin to being roommates, with their share of common spaces yet separate headquarters. Such an undertaking tends to bring about elements of juxtaposition, contrast and union. This Low Point release from Alex Cobb & Aquarelle encompasses these and many more in a seamless fashion, breathing an ease of cohabitation throughout.

One side of the vinyl LP picks up where the other left off and there is a manifest impression of torch-bearing with a common decisiveness within these pieces. Their work may be seen not in opposition, but rather as an alternative to the otherwise microwaved and unimaginative drones steadily filling up the modern musical landscape.

Gracing upon themes of immanence, embodiment and metamorphosis, it embarks the listener into deeply immersive sonic territory. The shades and nuances are undeniably subtle but also rich and vast, which makes entering the dwelling of these artists both a mystifying, yet coherent experience all at once.” Samuel Landry, September 2011

Alex Cobb (who previously recorded under the Taiga Remains moniker) has released material alongside Low Point’s curator Gareth Hardwick in 2008 as well as on his own label, Students of Decay. He is at the steering wheel for what he depicts as ‘a one man musical operation that deals mainly with the creation of intricate sound environments that seduce the listener through layer upon layer of sound.’ With appearances on labels including Root Strata, Callow God & Arbor as well as collaborations with the likes of Valerio Cosi and Jeff Witscher, Alex Cobb is not one to sit on his laurels and much can be expected in the coming years from this extremely fruitful artist.

Aquarelle is sound artist and curator of the Rest + Noise label Ryan Potts, originally from Wisconsin and currently a resident of Toronto, Canada. Alongside his latest album ‘Sung in Broken Symmetry' released by Students of Decay in August, this year promises to be bountiful one for an artist who has so far shown parsimony and restraint with his however potent outings. Ryan’s inclusion in the Low Point roster seems for all purposes organic and most welcome, it will surely bring attention to a project of unmistakable depth and lushness.

Limited edition white vinyl LP, packaged in a full colour matt printed sleeve. On sale for £11 plus shipping to your part of the world. Limited edition of 300 copies. To listen to sound samples and to purchase a copy, please head to http://www.low-point.com/LP045.html

"Tightrope was created in 2010. That November I visited Tokyo to tour with Yui Onodera to promote our Generic City album. On the last Saturday of the tour, I took part in a collaboration performance at a temple in Tokyo with Opitope and Corey Fuller, where I played some of the source pieces used in Tightrope. It was unfinished, but when I returned to my home it was completed in a short time. One month later, on December 31st 2010, I moved to Tokyo.

Though presented as one continuous track without breaks, Tightrope is a collage of 24 separately titled pieces. Layer upon layer, they were mixed on top of each other, and given a single place.

It has many different instruments and sound sources. Piano, television, synthesizers, fire crackling in the fireplace, whistling, pipe organ, eating ice, acoustic guitar, laptop, an afternoon conversation, a medicine drip buzzer, car noise, my ringtone, contact mic and many others I can't remember. At the time, it never occurred to me to keep track of these things. In the end, they're all collected, unplanned memories." - Will Long, Tokyo, January 2012

Limited edition cd, packaged in a full colour digipak. On sale for £8 plus shipping to your part of the world. Limited edition of 300 copies. To listen to sound samples and to purchase a copy, please head to http://www.low-point.com/LP046.html

'Griis' is the second collaborative release by the Netherlands based trio of brothers Jan & Romke Kleefstra together with Anne-Chris Bakker.

The Kleefstra’s musical partnership began when Romke was asked to accompany Jan’s poetry recitals by creating soundscapes on the guitar. Since then, the brothers have collaborated with a range of artists including Machinefabriek, Peter Broderick, Gareth Davis, Nils Frahm, Greg Haines and Danny Saul.

Upon listening to ‘Griis’, the listener will hear that the album is uniquely characterised by the Frisian (a dialect spoken in the northern stretches of the Netherlands) poetry recited by Jan over an ever-morphing musical backdrop, created by nothing more than the inventive use of bowed, looped and processed electric guitars.

Jan’s poetry melts seamlessly into the soundscapes created by the two guitarists. One senses an icy coolness thanks to the humming, wind-like drones that fill the album. Bowed strings provide weight and an almost subliminal percussive element, joined by echoed, sorrowful guitar.

When the spoken voice returns, there is an eerie sense of loneliness that transcends the music; the trio’s intense processing resulting in a series of stark contemplative moments which, beyond their natural bleak aspect reveal some truly evocative settings.

Limited edition vinyl LP, packaged in a full colour matt printed sleeve. On sale for £11 plus shipping to your part of the world. Limited edition of 200 copies. To listen to sound samples and to purchase a copy, please head to http://www.low-point.com/LP047.html

Next Monday marks the official release date of not one, but two new amazing albums on Low Point.

LP051 - The Horse Loom - 'The Horse Loom' LP/digital download

“Where to start to describe The Horse Loom? The best acoustic guitar player in the country? Maybe. The most unique marriage between British folk music, avant garde guitar playing and punk rock spirit? Certainly. Wonderful? Definitely. Under-rated? You’ll have to ask him about that.

Northumbrian guitarist and singer Steve Malley would doubtless be extremely embarrassed to read any of these things. That says a lot. Steve played guitar in Crane in the early 90s, whose post-Husker Du take on The Byrds-meets-DC hardcore earned them a deserving reputation as one of the UK's finest live bands. He would go on to play in Kodiak, Four Frame and then most notably The Unit Ama. The Unit Ama existed in direct contrast to their (musical) peers from America. Whereas a cold and cool approach was favoured by the bands from across the pond, The Ama dropped any of this façade and opened themselves and their music to possibilities of accident and misfortune creating a live experience that was truly inspiring. I say with total sincerity that they changed a lot of people’s musical outlook forever.

The Horse Loom sees Steve take this approach and apply it to his love of folk music. Combining folk structures and melodies with his incredible guitar playing has made The Horse Loom something truly unique.” - Chris Summerlin

Low Point is proud to present the debut album by The Horse Loom, the name attributed to the solo project of guitarist Steve Malley. Following several years of writing and re-working material in front of audiences up and down the country, the eight songs presented on the album were captured in a single day at First Love Studio, Nottingham by friend and colleague Nick Jonah Davis.

Switching between instrumentals that sound as if they have been shaped by the elements, and more ‘straightforward’ songs, that are in the lineage of classic modern folk artists such as Bert Jansch, Davey Graham and Martin Carthy, the album perfectly captures the immediacy and innovation seen in Steve's compositions.

Limited edition vinyl LP, packaged in a full colour, matt printed sleeve. On sale for £11 plus shipping to your part of the world. Ltd edition of 300 copies. To listen to sound samples and to purchase a copy, please head to http://www.low-point.com/LP051.html

'Mallet Guitars Two' is the second release by Ex-Easter Island Head. Expanding from the duo of their debut, 'Mallet Guitars One' to a quartet, the piece is four movements for mallet guitars, percussion and trumpet.

Originally commissioned for Liverpool Light Night (2010) and honed over a ten-month period of notable live performances alongside Rhys Chatham and Philip Jeck, 'Mallet Guitars Two' broadens the groups’ pulsing percussive minimalism into a full spectrum shimmer of electrified strings, chattering percussion and meditative brass.

Incorporating prepared third-bridge guitars to create a chorusing attack of alternating chords and a bamboo-struck field of flaring harmonics, 'Mallet Guitars Two' explores the melodic potential of overtones and drones generated through multiple electric guitars. Anchored by the mesmeric repetition of three fixed chords and incorporating tuned singing bowls alongside gong-like washes of cymbal, this composition exhibits a further refinement of Ex-Easter Island Head’s unique guitar minimalism.

Translated as “One who is lost”, Moai Hava is a ritually significant relic of the now lost Tangata Manu (Bird-Man) religion of Easter Island.

Taken from a burial ground on the island in 1868 by the crew of the British ship HMS Topaze, it is unknown whether this name refers to a deceased ancestor or the act of removal from the island, but his relocation coincides with the cataclysmic end of a culture which had existed on the island for around one-thousand years.

Recorded live before an audience of several hundred people, 'Music for Moai Hava' was commissioned for performance around the statue itself in the cavernous atrium of the World Museum, Liverpool. The piece sees Ex-Easter Island Head collaborating with members of the a.P.A.t.T Orchestra, an inclusive ensemble of no fixed size or instrumentation, bringing together players of all ages, abilities and backgrounds.

Performed with a twenty-seven piece ensemble, scored for mallet and third-bridge guitars, drums, hand percussion and voices, 'Music For Moai Hava' sees Ex-Easter Island Head’s guitar-struck minimalism at the centre of a ritualistic rattle of bamboo, handclaps, cymbals, bells, gongs and shakers before a horizon-line drone of prepared guitars ushers in a swelling chorus of wordless vocals, amplified by the five-storey space of the museum’s vast atrium.

Limited edition vinyl LP, packaged in a full colour, matt printed sleeve. On sale for £11 plus shipping to your part of the world. Ltd edition of 250 copies. To listen to sound samples and to purchase a copy, please head to http://www.low-point.com/LP048.html